The Fresno City Council voted Thursday to approve a permanent ban on growing medical marijuana outdoors. The measure now goes to Mayor Ashley Swearengin for her signature, and it takes effect 30 days after that. The permanent ordinance allows no outdoor marijuana cultivation of any kind within the city limits, just like the temporary bans that were passed in December and January, the latter of which is still in effect. Enforcement will be handled through [read more …]

The following statement was just released by ASA: Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and our allies have been fighting for medical cannabis regulations to protect safe access to medicine and patients’ rights since 2002, and we are going to keep fighting that important battle despite a setback today. Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-SF) has withdrawn AB 2312, a bill that would have created a state board to regulate medical cannabis cultivation and provision. That means AB [read more …]

The Fresno City Council voted 5-0 today to approve a permanent ban on growing medical marijuana outdoors. (It’s on the June 28 council agenda for second reading and final passage.) The ordinance allows no outdoor marijuana cultivation of any kind within the city limits, just like the temporary bans that were passed in December and January. Enforcement will be handled through a civil injunctive process, with each day of non-compliance counting as a separate violation. [read more …]

A Butte County prosecutor Monday presented testimony in hopes of bringing a felony child abuse trial against an Oroville mother whose newborn baby and 14-month toddler were allegedly in a home with marijuana buds, hash and residues. The case of Daisy Bram, 30, stirred the ire of medical marijuana advocates, Peter Hecht reports in the Sacramento Bee. An audiotape went viral of Bram shrieking in tears as child welfare officers took away her children during [read more …]

Kern County voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a measure to sharply limit where storefront medical marijuana dispensaries can be located in unincorporated county areas. With all precincts reporting, Measure G passed with 68.98 percent voting yes and 31.02 percent no, James Burger reports in the Bakersfield Californian. The initiative will practically eliminate nearly every existing shop that distributes cannabis under California laws that permit the cultivation and possession of the plant for medical purposes. Kern [read more …]

NewsComments Off on Morse jailed, released after pepper-spray incident

Jun052012

Police arrested Fresno mayoral candidate and medical-marijuana advocate Rick Morse on Sunday for allegedly pepper-spraying a homeless man in his neighborhood, Marc Benjamin of the Fresno Bee reports. Police said Morse and the man have been involved in an ongoing confrontation. The homeless man had taken up residence in a vacant lot across the street from Morse’s home near the corner of Palm and Olive avenues. About 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Morse began throwing away the [read more …]